Tim Daniels
(ZENIT News / Washington, 07.10.2023).- Americans’ confidence in the society’s main institutions has not improved over the last year, according to a Gallup poll. The study reveals that public confidence in these institutions remains low after the collapse registered in 2022.
Last year Gallup registered a significant decline in public confidence in 11 of the 16 institutions it analyses annually. The Presidency and the Supreme Court were the most affected, with a diminution of 15 and 11 percent points respectively in the percentage of Americans that express a lot or quite a lot of confidence in them.
The last survey shows that neither of the two institutions has been able to recover significantly. Confidence in the Supreme Court is 27%, whereas in the Presidency it’s 26%. However, it’s important to take into account that the survey was carried out before the Supreme Court issued important decisions, which could have affected the Court’s image and that of President Joe Biden, who expressed his opposition to some of the Court’s judgments.
In general, confidence in the other 14 institutions remains close to last year’s relatively low level, with no great positive or negative changes.
According to the survey, the institutions best valued by Americans are small businesses , with 65% of confidence, followed by the Army with 60%. The medical system and the Church or organized religion obtained a relatively high rating, although with only 34% and 32% of confidence respectively. Other institutions, such as the U.S. Supreme Court, the banks, the public schools, the Presidency, the big tech companies and unions obtained between 25% and 27% of confidence.
On the other hand, the worst valued institutions are the newspapers, the criminal justice system, the television news, big companies and Congress, with less than 20% of confidence. Congress is the institution with the least confidence, with only 8%.
The survey also included higher education on the list of institutions evaluated this year. The results and tendencies will be reported separately.
In sum, Americans’ confidence in the institutions remains low in 2023, continuing last year’s tendency. No institutions was able to improve its image, and many find themselves in the lowest levels or close to them. Although the situation isn’t encouraging, the good news is that no institution worsened significantly compared with the previous year.
